Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance
by Jho
Summary: A Goddess comes to grant Naruto & Sakura a special wish.
1. Prelude: Tears and a Warning

Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: Jho

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-San.

* * *

Author Notes: This is an original fanfic by me although it may not be an original idea. This is meant to be an epic-sized fic, the first I've ever attempted. I want to thank the excellent writers before me in the Naruto universe such as Random1377, Aaron Nowack, Terra Of Genesis, Doc Destructo, and countless others. You have all been such an inspiration to me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Without further ado, on with the show! 

**Prelude: Tears and a Warning**

_Italics indicates a person's thoughts, flashback, or action/s  
**Bold Italics refers to Kyuubi/Inner Sakura talking**  
_

* * *

_Drip, drip, drip…_

It was a dreadful scene. Blood was splattered all around the small forest. Rain was pouring down relentlessly, conveying the mood the pink-haired medical ninja was feeling inside. Two emerald eyes were wide-open in a sense of panic.

"Naruto, please wa-wake up…I'll st-stop calling you ba-baka…I'll even treat you to ra-ramen. Please…please," Sakura sobbed as her endless tears mixed with the pouring rain streaming down her face onto the very still blonde ninja below her. _It always seems like I can do so little for you._

"Damn it, damn it!" the medic shouted as she pounded her fist on the still body below her. "Wake up!" Naruto's body jerked below her as the blonde started to cough. **_Shannaro!_**

Naruto said groggily, "Sakura-chan," while blinking his eyes. "You really know how to wake the dead, eh?"

With tears of thankfulness in her eyes seeing that her teammate was okay, Sakura just hugged him and poured healing chakra into his broken body.

* * *

Leaning back against a tree, Naruto fidgeted with a branch and asked, "What happened while I was out?" 

Sakura didn't answer as the pink medic seemed to zone out thinking about something.

Naruto arched his eyebrow in a little annoyance. "Hey Sakura-chan? Earth to Sakura-chan!"

"Huh?" With a jump she turned her face took look at Naruto. "Sorry about that, I had a lot on my mind."

Naruto nodded at her as they shared a moment of quietness and contemplation. Both of them felt regret as their thoughts wander to their ex-teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. The two ninjas dwell on the horror they witnessed from their recent battle. _We were too late…_

Without warning a light seemed to appear out of nowhere before the two ninja. Astonished, they watch as something seemed to be moving out of one of the puddles near their feet. They were speechless when a young girl started to rise above the water and appeared before them. She seemed to be very young – around twelve to thirteen years old and had a foreign robe with strange markings adorning her face.

Sakura was getting ready to move into action seeing that her teammate wouldn't be able to do anything in this situation. _What the heck is she a mist ninja?_

The young girl beamed at them and went into a cute girl pose with peace sign. "Hi, I'm Skuld, Goddess Second Class, Type One, Limited! I've been sent here to grant you a wish from the Almighty! I can grant you any wish from a lifetime of wealth to even the destruction of the world. What is it that you desire?"

Massive sweat drops appeared on the two ninjas' heads. _Goddess…wish?!_

Skuld made a cute frown as she saw her audience respond with disbelieving stares. "What? I promise you it is true! C'mon now, go ahead and make any wish, and I will grant it. You two have been deemed worthy," the raven haired girl assured them.

Naruto scrunched up his face until his eyes were small slits looking like a fox, he asked, "Why should we trust you?"

"Yea," Sakura added. "I've never seen anyone like you in my entire life. Goddesses aren't real…"

Skuld scratched her head thinking of a way to respond. "Ah ha, I know a way to prove it to you!" The young goddess looked to be in extreme thought as she closed her eyes and said, "I know that you're both ninja. Not only that you're from Konoha! And you are both on a mission right now."

Team 7 just gave her blank stares in return. _Duh, that's kind of obvious._

"And your mission involved an ex-teammate. And that ex-teammate..." Skuld gasped as she saw in her mind what Naruto and Sakura witnessed. The goddess gave them a pitiful look as she understood what happened. "He's lost forever now in the darkness, isn't he?" Skuld stated.

To put it simply, the two ninjas were shocked that Skuld could be telling the truth.

Sakura voiced their thoughts when she asked, "Are you really telling the truth? Will you grant us a wish?

Skuld nodded; appreciating the fact that the two ninjas were finally believing her.

Then Naruto quickly declared, "We wish for the power to save Sasuke from Orochimaru!"

Skuld looked over to Sakura and asked, "Is this what you desire too?"

Sakura took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She thought about all the struggles that Naruto and she had to go through to save their wayward teammate. All the pain and suffering both of them had to endure. This last battle almost killed Naruto's life and she was sure at some points that she was going to die as well. After opening her eyes, Sakura fiercely answered, "Yes, this is also my wish, we want to save Sasuke."

The raven haired goddess smiled at them, seeing that their determination was strong. "I warn you, that there will be many consequences with your wish. You will face great hardship and have to endure through many struggles. But you will be granted the chance to save Sasuke from the darkness."

After those words were said, light started to shine around Skuld in beautiful patterns. The light continued to increase in brilliance until Sakura and Naruto were completely blinded and could see no more.

**End Prelude**

Next: Chapter 1 – Back to the Past


	2. Chapter 1: Back to the Past

Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: Jho

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Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-San. If I owned it I would create massive alternate universes to spark even more interest. Naruto basketball, Naruto crossover with Bleach, Naruto High School. Damn they should seriously try it.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Back to the Past**

_Italics indicates a person's thoughts, flashback, or action/s  
**Bold Italics refers to Kyuubi/Inner Sakura talking**_

* * *

_**Shannaro! Who the hell are you?!**_

"Ugh…", Sakura blinked tears out of her eyes as she stretched her arms out and gave a huge yawn. She looked over to her stand to check what time it was.

_5:24 AM_

'_Damn, I need more sleep_,' Sakura thought as she yawned again.

_**Hey you didn't answer me! Who are you?**_

"Who's there?" Sakura voiced out loudly.

_I must still be dreaming._

**_You're not dreaming you dummy._** Inner Sakura made her presence known and felt in Sakura's mind.

'_Oh?_' Sakura voiced mentally, curious at this latest state of affairs.

_**You're not Sakura. Bring Sakura back this moment!**_

'_Feh, stop being so noisy in the morning, I need my beauty sleep.'_

_**Shannaro! Stop messing with me and bring back Sakura!**_

'_Ugh, I am Sakura you stupid mind.'_ Sakura glanced wearily at her alarm clock again to check the time.

_5:27 AM_

'_Damn it'_ she sighed as Inner Sakura continued to rant. She pulled a pillow over her head hoping that it would help drain out Inner Sakura's noise. **_Dummy, I'm in your head. _**After a moment, Sakura tossed the pillow away as Inner Sakura continued to bother her.

* * *

On another side of town, Naruto was sleeping blissfully unaware of his teammate's unpleasant morning. He just happened to be thinking of the aforementioned girl in his sleep. Hugging his pillow tight to his body, a gentle, "Sakura-chan," escaped from his lips. If you looked closer you could notice drool falling down from the side of the blonde's mouth.

_Beep, beep, beep…_

Naruto's hand shot out with the quickness to quiet his alarm clock. Blinking his eyes wearily he checked the time.

_7:49 AM_

_Aww, why did I have to wake up, that was such an awesome dream. Sakura-chan was doing THAT._ Naruto took a moment to wipe some drool away. _Damn that pervert-Sennin, it's his fault that I'm turning into a pervert!_

With a sigh of resignation, Naruto picked himself out of bed and forced his body to obey him as he started to move to the bathroom. Once he was there he popped open his toothpaste, applied it to his toothbrush, and started to furiously scrub at his teeth. It wouldn't do for him to have bad breath around Sakura-chan after all. He took a glance at his mirror. He continued to brush his teeth. Then he looked back at his mirror. And he looked. And he looked again.

"Ehhhhhhhh?!"

* * *

As Naruto ran ahead to the academy, he looked around at the village. He looked happily around as the villagers prepared for the day ahead, even as many gave him cold and mean stares. _I guess the village is still the same…though I feel like those looks of hatred…_

Naruto was brought out of his musing as he noticed the academy drawing closer. As he was about to enter he noticed a pink-haired girl waiting outside. _Sakura-chan!_

"Gooood morningggg Sakura-channn!" Naruto greeted cheerfully with a slight wave.

Sakura gave her teammate a slight frown in return. "What's so good about this morning?" she huffed with bleary eyes.

Taken slightly aback by his teammate's negative behavior, Naruto looked more closely at her. _Hmm…seems like Sakura got younger too. She definitely looks exhausted._

Naruto asked, "Sakura-chan, what happened to you? You look like a zombie this morning."

"Never mind that," Sakura answered, "We have more important things to discuss," she said with focused eyes.

The blonde nodded and gave her a look of understanding as he gave his full attention.

"You must have noticed it too," Sakura continued in a serious manner, "We're back to a much younger age. Judging from the other students that came so far and the ninja from our class, I'm pretty sure that today is the day that we break up into teams."

Naruto gave a huge grin. "That's great Sakura-chan! The goddess really granted our wish and gave us a chance to save Sasuke! I never would have dreamed though that she would send us back into the past."

"Yea I know," Sakura said in a pensive mood. "Anyways with us being in the past that means we have a lot of power in being able to change certain events. We need to be careful with that power. My mom has always told me that with great power you also have great responsibility. We can't screw this up."

As the importance of what was taking place dawned on him, Naruto realized that even a guy like him had to be serious. "So what's the plan Sakura-chan?" Naruto was smart, but he knew that it was best in this kind of situation to leave the planning to his teammate.

"Right now we should just try to be as discreet as possible. Try to hide most of your powers and remember what kind of techniques you already had in the past at this point in your life. We don't know how much of the timeline will be changed by our actions, the goddess warned us of dire consequences. We should keep knowledge of future events to ourselves for the moment."

"Roger that, Sakura-chan!" Naruto saluted, "You can count on me!" Naruto ended his pledge with a huge fox-like grin.

Sakura gave a pretty smile in return. _I know I can count on you Naruto._ **_Shannaro! Why the hell are you smiling at this idiot!_**

Naruto gave the pink-haired girl a curious look as she suddenly went from a smile to a serious frown.

"Don't mind me Naruto, let's go in."

The blonde nodded as the two ninjas went into the academy and up to their classroom.

* * *

As the two ninjas made their way into the class, they looked for the two seats closest to Sasuke.

Both of them looked at Sasuke and felt an immense sense of relief seeing him like he used to be. There he was in his pre-cursed seal self looking as stoic and calm as ever. _This time we'll save him_, they thought as they made the promise in their hearts.

Coming closer to Sasuke, Inner Sakura decided to make her appearance. _**Sasuke-kun! That is one mighty hot piece of –**, 'Go take a cold shower,' Sakura mentally chided to her inner self. Sigh, this could get really distracting._

Naruto grinned as he noticed Iruka-sensei coming up to the front of the class. _This definitely brings back some fond memories._

"Today we will be creating three man teams," Iruka continued on while Naruto thought back on some of the crazy ruckus he created along with Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and others in his class. _Hehe, we must have been a really big headache for Iruka-sensei._

An eraser was thrown that smacked Naruto right on the head. "Oww, Iruka-sensei, what was that for?" Naruto pouted as he rubbed the right side of his head.

"Pay attention, Naruto," Iruka commanded with a large tic above his right eye. "Anyways that's it with the introduction of the teams. This afternoon we'll introduce the Jounin teachers. Take a break until then."

**End Chapter 1**

Started: 1-27-07  
Finished: 1-28-07

Next: Chapter 2: Team 7 Reintroduction


	3. Chapter 2: Team 7 Reintroduction

Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: Jho

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Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-San. I get high on a couple of reviews. I wonder what it's like for Kishimoto-San to get paid for Naruto manga and all those fan-mails too. Lucky Guy.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Team 7 Reintroduction**

_Italics indicates a person's thoughts, flashback, or action/s  
**Bold Italics refers to Kyuubi/Inner Sakura talking**_

* * *

"_All I want is for you to acknowledge me," whispered Sakura. "I'm serious, I would do anything because I like you," she blushed. Naruto felt his heart skip a beat. 'I feel like I finally understand why I like her,' he thought as their lips drew closer together…_

Naruto blushed at the memory that happened long ago. He thought really hard about his current situation. _Hmm…I'm back in the past, I can change Sasuke's destiny this time and finally keep my promise to Sakura-chan. I was so damn close to kissing Sakura-chan that time. There's no way she would kiss me as Naruto. Maybe if I tried what I did last time…I can steal a kiss!_ Naruto weighed the rewards and the consequences with his left and right hands. As he lifted his left hand, the blonde grinned perversely. This would definitely be worth it.

The blonde took a quick peak around a building wall, noticing that Sasuke was eating alone just like last time. _Sorry Sasuke, I just can't have you getting in the way._ Taking advantage of Sasuke's unguarded self, Naruto quickly overwhelmed him with a couple of Kage Bunshins. Naruto left a couple of Kage Bunshins with the raven haired boy, remembering how quickly a tied-down Sasuke broke out of it the last time; hopefully it would buy the blonde the extra time he needed. _Hehe, Sakura-chan, here I come! No stomach ache to stop me this time!_

* * *

The pink haired medic was in quite the contemplative mood as she was sitting down on a bench. She thought back to that last mission with Naruto where she was certain that they had lost their last chance to save Sasuke. Now here they were, given a miracle fresh start to set things right from the beginning. But thinking about all the different possibilities made her head hurt. There were so many things to consider from making sure Sasuke didn't join Orochimaru to making sure that the Sandaime would live. Sakura sighed; no point in stressing too much about it, Naruto and she will just take it one step at a time. As she looked up from her thoughts she froze. _Oh no, I forgot about this._

There looking straight at him with his cool and handsome eyes was Sasuke. He calmly walked over to her side. Looking down at her with his piercing dark eyes, he said, "You sure have a large charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it." **_Shannaro! Sasuke-kun's mine!_**

Naruto blushed down in anticipation as he waited for Sakura to respond. A rosy hue colored her cheeks as she looked up to him. Sparks of electricity seemed to pass between them as their lips drew closer. Naruto gulped and closed his eyes in nervousness just before they were about to kiss. He felt a slightly moist and warm sensation on the left side of his cheek. As Sakura broke contact, she whispered into his ears, "Nice try, Naruto-kun." '_Oh crap.'_

With a shout of, "Go to Hell!" Sakura unleashed one of her famous Naruto-punches that sent the young Kyuubi container flying away from her. After she punched him, he lost the Henge form he had of Sasuke. As he started to lose consciousness, Naruto couldn't help smiling inside his heart. Sakura seemed to be really stressed out since they both returned to their past. Now that she was hitting him again he felt that everything was going to be okay.

Sakura walked over to Naruto's still form and looked down on him with disdainful eyes. As she bent down, she took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking and softened her eyes. Sakura held her green chakra filled hands to heal the bruises she left with her monstrous punch. After that, she leaned in to kiss Naruto's forehead lightly. _Thanks, you silly baka._

The pink haired girl didn't realize there was someone who was watching them from a tree. Their raven haired teammate was curiously inspecting the scene that just unfolded before him. _What does this all mean?_

* * *

When he regained consciousness, Naruto picked himself up and headed back into the academy. As he cautiously stepped into his classroom, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up. He looked at the two occupants of the room and couldn't help but suppress a shiver. Sasuke was glaring daggers at him while Sakura gave him what looked like the look of doom.

There was a slight creak behind the blonde as Hatake Kakashi made his appearance. He put up one of his hands in a wave and said, "Yo." The jounin took a moment to look at his young charges. "I am your instructor. Let's go up to the roof."

Once they reached their location, the Genin went to take a seat while their teacher leaned his back against a side railing. Kakashi started, "Okay…let's begin with some introductions. Tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that…" With no one responding Kakashi pointed at Naruto to start first.

Naruto smiled and said, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto." _I like Sakura-chan._ "I like cup ramen! What I like even more is when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen at Ichiraku Ramen." _What I dislike is Orochimaru and Akatsuki._ "What I dislike is waiting three minutes for cup ramen to cook." At this point a sweat drop appeared on Kakashi's head. _Does he think about anything besides Ramen?_

"My dream…" _It's only when there is something special to protect. That's when you can become truly strong!_ "…is to become the Hokage and gain the strength I need to protect this village and my most important people!" Naruto's eyes conveyed a sense of strong determination and his smile was full of confidence.

'_Ohh,'_ Kakashi thought as his eye widened at the blonde's statement. _He's definitely grown in an interesting way…_

"My hobby…is to kiss Sakura-chan and get her to go on a date with me!"

_Bam!_

"Hehe, please ignore this baka," Sakura laughed nervously as she pulled her hand from the blonde's stomach. Naruto grinned as he massaged his belly.

"Next," Kakashi said as rubbed his head in amusement.

Sasuke folded his hands as he spoke in a grim voice. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And…I don't want to use the word 'dream,' but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan…and to kill a certain man."

'_Not surprising,'_ Kakashi thought. He folded his arms and nodded his head towards Sakura. "And lastly, the girl."

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment as she considered what she wanted to say. When she opened her eyes she gave a self-assured smile as she started. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like spending time with my friends. I also like hitting Naruto when he's being an idiot…" The blonde quickly jumped in, "I protest!" Sakura shoved his face to the side 'gently' as she continued. "I dislike those who try to harm my friends and I especially dislike people who make fun of my forehead. My dream is to one day become a medic ninja that surpasses the legendary Tsunade."

Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought. _Very surprising. She's not like the girls her age; she seems to be a lot more mature._

"Okay! Well that's enough of that. Why don't we-" Kakashi started to say until he was cut off.

"Hold on a sec Kakashi-sensei. You didn't share anything about yourself," Naruto whined.

"Oh me?" _I guess I can open up a little after what they shared._ "Well I like broiled saury with salt and miso soup with eggplant. I dislike tempura. My dream…hmm…My hobbies, well you'll find that out soon enough." Kakashi finished with a peculiar smile.

The air seemed to change as Kakashi put on a serious face. The three genin noticed the mood and gave full attention to their teacher. The jounin looked each of them in the eye. "We will start our duties tomorrow. First we are going to do something with just the four of us…Survival Training," the jounin tried to say with a sense of disaster. Sasuke narrowed his eyes while Naruto and Sakura grinned on the inside.

Not sensing any response, Kakashi started to crack up with giggling. "You guys are going to flip when I tell you this. Of the 27 genin, only 9 genin will be chosen. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super-difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66 percent." On the inside the jounin was impressed as he took a glimpse of them. _They don't appear to be shaken from my scare tactics at all._

Kakashi looked over the genins one last time as he gave final instructions. "Tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your ninja tools. Oh, and skip breakfast, you'll throw up." Sasuke hardened his eyes as he prepared himself for the test tomorrow. _I must succeed._

**End Chapter 2**

Author Notes: Thanks to all my reviewers so far. Already over 10 reviews and almost 1k hits, that's pretty cool lol. I'm sorry to say these quick updates won't be able to continue because I'm starting school again soon, but I promise that I won't abandon this story and I'll do my best to keep at it. Finally with the background set in, we can start with some fun action scenes. I haven't written action scenes that much so bear with me as it might take some trial and error.

_For those that don't know, saury is a kind of fish._

Started: 1-28-07  
Finished: 1-29-07

Next: Chapter 3: Survival Training Surprises


	4. Chapter 3: Survival Training Surprises

Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: Jho

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Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-San. I also want to give a big shout out to Wikipedia for their great database. This is my biggest chapter so far. I'm amazed by people who are able to crank out 5k – 10k words a day as a writer, especially when they have real life to deal with. Amazing.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Survival Training Surprises**

_Italics indicates a person's thoughts, flashback, or action/s  
**Bold Italics refers to Kyuubi/Inner Sakura talking**_

* * *

'_Hmm…_' Naruto thought as he stared at the ceiling of his room. He couldn't sleep because he was too excited for the upcoming day. _Hehe, Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are going to be really surprised._ The blonde licked his lips in anticipation. He rolled to the side as his thoughts wandered to the end of their last meeting. 

_Kakashi-sensei smiled and said, "Later," before he popped out of existence. Sasuke didn't even bother to bid farewell to his teammates when he turned around and headed home. Sakura beckoned Naruto to come closer. Once he did, she linked her fingers behind her back and said in a soft voice, "Naruto, even though the meeting time is at 9 AM at the training grounds, let's meet by the academy first since it's on the way. We know that Kakashi-sensei's going to be late anyways. Let's use that time to prepare a little. Naruto grinned and asked, "Does this make it a date Sakura-chan?" Sakura raised her fist and bopped the blonde on the head. She smiled and said, "Don't be so immature Naruto. See ya tomorrow morning." Before Sakura walked out of view, she turned and gave Naruto a serious face. "Don't be late."_

Naruto glanced over to check the time. _Awesome, I got time to get some breakfast at Ichiraku first!_ With that the blonde hurried out of his bed with promising thoughts of delicious ramen first thing for breakfast.

* * *

As the young Uchiha prodigy stood alone proudly in the forest, a sweat drop appeared on the side of his head. _Where the hell is everyone? Damn I'm hungry…_

* * *

"Yo, here I am again," Kakashi said as he faced the memorial. There's a deep sadness in his eye as he looks solely on one name in the list of fallen heroes – Uchiha Obito. "Obito…" Kakashi voiced quietly as he reminisced about his past. "Would you like this new team that I've been given? At least they seem to have strong determination." 

_"Did I make it?" Obito asked worriedly. "No! You're late again!" a young Kakashi replied heatedly._

_"Don't you know," Kakashi stated imperiously," Those ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are trash!"_

"_Kakashi…that's not all there is to it. You must also be able to adapt to cope with the situation," the Yondaime said in a serious tone as he berated his two young charges._

"_The most important thing to a ninja is teamwork!"_

Kakashi closed his eye in pain and regret as he remembered his words after Rin was captured. _"As a ninja, sometimes it's essential to sacrifice your companions for the accomplishment of the mission._

"_The most important thing to a ninja is to be a tool in order to complete the mission. Emotions are unnecessary things."_

_Obito widened his eyes in shock. "Are you serious? Do you really think like that?!"_

"…_Yes," Kakashi replied with sorrowful eyes as his thoughts strayed to his father._

_Obito turned his back to his Kakashi in anger. "…Of course those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called trash…but," Obito paused in the middle of his statement to look sideways and give his teammate a look of contempt. "Those who don't care about their companions are even worse trash."_

"_Anyway, if I'm that kind of trash, I'll break the rules! If that's not being a true ninja…then I'll crush that ninja way!"_

The white haired ninja bowed his head in respect. Then he looked to the sky and whispered, "Obito…could these kids be the ones worthy of your legacy?"

* * *

When Naruto and Sakura finally came to the training grounds, Sasuke gave each of them a short greeting. "Sakura," he said calmly nodding to her. When he turned to Naruto, he folded his arms and smirked, "Dead last." 

Naruto's eyes widened angrily. "You bastard!" Forming his hand into a fist, the blonde took a step towards his rival.

Sakura quickly hissed, "Stop it!" to no avail as Naruto's fist continued straight towards Sasuke's surprised face. **_You punk!_**

Before his fist could make that satisfying crunch from impact, Naruto found his hand easily restrained by his teacher.

"Yo," the jounin greeted calmly with one hand while he used the other to hold Naruto's arm back. "Getting heated so quickly, eh? Better for you guys to save it for the training."

Once Kakashi decided that his genin had enough time to cool down, he placed an alarm clock on a tree stump that showed _10:10 AM._ "Ok, it's set for noon." The jounin took out two bells and dangled it before the team. "Your task is to take these from me before noon."

"Those who cannot get a bell by noon…get no lunch." At this statement, Sasuke's stomach grumbled in protest. _'Damn, that's why he said to not eat_,' the raven-haired boy thought with a frown.

Kakashi continued, "You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy. You can even use your shurikens. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill. When I give the signal, you may begin."

The jounin sized each of them up, and sensed that they were ready. He yelled, "Start!"

* * *

Kakashi brushed his hair as he checked the genins' movement. _The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well. _The jounin glanced around. _Both Sakura and Sasuke seem well hidden. _He looked disappointingly at the lame excuse for a ninja in front of him. _But what is this baka doing?_

Before the jounin, the hyperactive blonde was shouting in plain view, "Fight me!" Kakashi sweat dropped as he said, "Pft, you're just a little bit off."

While Sasuke was watching the scene from a tree, he couldn't help thinking, '_What a moron,'_ inside his head.

Naruto jumped from his position to start an attack at the same time Kakashi pulled a book out. Naruto didn't stop to question this action as he continued on his attack. He made several simultaneous strikes to hit the jounin's head, chest, and legs; but was blocked away at each turn. At his last missed strike he was off balance as air met his form.

The Kyuubi container looked confused as he heard the words behind him. "A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind, idiot."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in disbelief. The hand seal that the jounin was using hinted at a strong fire spell. _He's going to use high-level ninjutsu here? Damn he's not playing around._

Naruto finally turned his head around to see what was happening. Kakashi smirked. "Too late. Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique, Thousand Years of Pain!"  
Kakashi shouted with a sinister look in his eye, as he quickly moved his pointed hands upwards to Naruto's butt. The jounin was surprised when instead of getting a screaming young blonde flying away, his poke produced a puff of air. Kakashi was able to analyze the situation instantly. _Hn? Not just Bunshin but Kage Bunshin – the skill that creates not just an illusion, but also multiple real bodies of yourselves. It was used in such a clever way too. _

Naruto looked up from a bush, hidden well from the action. _Hmm…looks like I'll need to train a lot more to gain my former speed; at this point I can't even make Kakashi-sensei drop his book to fight me seriously._

He looked closely at Sakura's position. _Good. Sakura-chan was able to use the distraction to locate Sasuke and tell him the plan._

The pink haired girl finally was able to reach her teammate's position. She whispered, "Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke turned to look at his side in surprise, never noticing Sakura coming near him; as his mind was fully on the short battle he just saw.

"Here," Sakura held her hand out as it showed a ninja ration bar. "You'll need it to fight with your full strength."

The Uchiha prodigy was silent as he saw the kind offer. He didn't want to accept her help, but just then his stomach made an unwanted appearance and made a pretty loud growl. Sasuke blushed, and said, "Thanks," quickly inhaling the bar as fast as he could.

_**Shannaro! Go and make your move, he's vulnerable right now to our womanly charms!**_

Sakura ignored her inner self and used the time to inform her teammate the purpose behind the test. "…That's why we need to fight as a team to get the bells."

Sasuke nodded to her as she finished her explanation. "I understand, so what's the plan?"

Sakura looked up to give hand signals to Naruto, as she knew where to look for him. She saw some signals return for confirmation. "This is how it'll happen…"

* * *

_"Sakura-chan," the blonde started grinning joyfully as he placed his hands behind the back of his head, "You must have wanted to see me pretty bad to meet up this early." _

_Sakura went on to smack the blonde on the back of the head. "You're late baka, don't test me."_

_"Aww Sakura-chan, C'mon I wasn't that late," Naruto pouted with a cute fox-like expression._

_She raised her eyebrow in response and held up her fist of impending doom. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry Sakura-channn!" Naruto quickly said to divert her wrath._

_They started to talk about their plan today as they walked towards the training grounds. On their way they stopped by a short ninja stand that was selling some accessories. "Eh, what are we doing here?" Naruto asked dumbly. "It's for these," the pink haired girl replied as she purchased a pair of tight black leather gloves._

_The Kyuubi container grinned, "Oh, are you going to show off your monstrous strength?"_

_**You brat!**_

_A ridiculously strong punch later, Naruto found himself lying on the ground upside down._

_"Baka, what did I say about using that term?" Sakura helped the blonde come back to an upright position. "Naruto, I think we can share some things with Kakashi-sensei. He's going to be our instructor so he's bound to notice some strange things anyways. But let's not push it for now and only share if he asks." The blonde simply nodded in response, afraid that any further words would incur more pain. "And one more thing," Sakura added, "Make sure that we coordinate with Sasuke to get the bells. The point of this exercise is to work as a team and if we don't, we'll waste our time by being sent back to the academy."_

_"Okay Sakura-chan, let's do this!" the blonde yelled enthusiastically with a fist pumped in the air._

* * *

The white haired jounin was impressed. _Diversionary tactic, eh? Where are you my cute little genin?_

He started to fake giggle as he was reading the book, trying to show an opening. He sensed the genins' chakra as they started to converge on his location.

Naruto was the first to act. He made hand seals and shouted out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kakashi looked closely at the Bunshins' surroundings as he realized that all of them were real. After the blonde executed his jutsu, twelve Narutos circled around the jounin and yelled, "Shihōhappō Shuriken" as each of them took out several Shuriken and threw them with great precision and speed at the jounin.

Kakashi's eye opened wide at the number of Shuriken that was flying in his direction. The amount of Shuriken was too great to just simply use Kawarimi no Jutsu.

Naruto's excited battle expression faltered for a moment as the Shuriken hit home ripping Kakashi-sensei to shreds. '_Damn, did I get too serious?' _the blonde mused. Then he grinned. _Nah, Kakashi-sensei's not the type of ninja to get defeated that easily._

True to the blonde's words, an instant later the Kakashi that was hit puffed out, revealing that it was a Kage Bunshin. The real Kakashi sweat dropped as he put away his "Come Come Paradise" novel seeing that he needed to get somewhat serious while he was in the air.

Sasuke followed up Naruto's attack as he traced the trajectory of Kakashi's escape route. The Uchiha powered up a huge amount of chakra and shouted, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu," as he breathed out a huge flame of fire that sped quickly towards the jounin's location.

The jounin widened his eye in shock again. _My genin are full of surprises today!_ He quickly made hand seals for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu, before he vanished into the ground right before the fire reached him.

Sasuke smirked when he saw Kakashi dodge his attack with ease and hid himself.

When Kakashi came out of the ground, he pulled down what he believed to be the raven-haired boy's legs and came up out of the ground himself. Before he had a time to comment on Sasuke's incapacitated position of being stuck in the ground, Sakura came up quickly behind him and made a swipe at the bells that were dangling on the jounin's side.

But Kakashi sensed her approach and quickly used a hand seal to immerse Sakura into a genjutsu, Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu. Sakura realized immediately what the jounin was trying to do, but her curiosity got the best of her. _What kind of vision will I see this time? **'Don't do it!'**_ Inner Sakura warned fearfully.

The real Naruto frowned, as he didn't understand why Sakura suddenly stopped attacking. _Genjutsu on that level can't affect Sakura-chan, what's she doing?_ He signaled the other Kage Bunshins forward as they tried to take on Kakashi-sensei.

Leaves started to swirl and cloud her vision, as they took Sakura into a dream world of her worst fears. As she looked up she noticed a blurred vision of someone coming into her point of view. She gasped as she saw it was Sasuke in cursed seal one form. The raven haired ninja smirked, and said, "Ku ku ku…it seems you are way too late to save Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said wickedly while his snake tongue came out and licked a kunai.

As tears started to form in her eyes Sakura ran away from the snake Sannin as hard as she could. While running she noticed a still form before her. _No…NO!_ Sakura's tears started to heavily pour down her face as she noticed Naruto's body in a pool of blood, and no indication that he was alive. She looked around and saw the various uniforms of the organization Akatsuki. Itachi looked straight at her and said, "Sakura-san, I'm sorry to inform you that this Jinchūriki is dead.

'_He's dead, he's dead, he's dead,' _was the phrase that Sakura kept hearing over and over in her mind. Inner Sakura made an appearance and smacked Sakura on the face. **_Wake up!_** With the last bit of strength she had left after that mental torture, Sakura tearfully whispered, "Kai," as she broke out of the illusion.

After coming to her senses she noticed that all of Naruto's Kage Bunshins were gone and the real Naruto seemed to be breathing heavily. From her position on the floor, she looked to her left and saw that Sasuke was still stuck beneath the ground. The situation looked really bleak.

Kakashi looked around at his exhausted genin and smiled inwardly, appreciative of their great teamwork and effort. _I guess this is their current limit, eh? Still, for genins they have amazing coordination as a team working together for the first time._

Just then the alarm clock started ringing, indicating it was noon. Kakashi took a glance at Sasuke's stuck form, and joked, "A ninja must be able to read what's underneath the underneath, eh Sasuke-kun?"

'Sasuke' smirked back at the jounin and replied, "Right back at you Kakashi-sensei," as he puffed out of existence. Kakashi's eye opened wide as he detected chakra signatures approaching behind him. He turned around and saw eight Kage Bunshins approaching him quickly. "You can't last much longer Naruto," the jounin called out. "I know you guys are at your limit." When he felt a form attach to him from behind, he gasped as he realized that another Kage Bunshin was able to sneak up behind him.

The Naruto replication grinned and said, "A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind, right Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi smiled inwardly at the blonde's statement. _ 'Hoho, very clever. You can't stop me with this though,'_ the jounin thought as he prepared to use Kawarimi no Jutsu.

But before all the Narutos reached his position, they made seals with their hands and shouted, "Henge!" transforming into beautiful naked blonde girls.

The white-haired open-closet pervert thought, '_What?!'_ as he felt a girl hugging him from behind. Blood seemed to creep out of his mask from the contact as all the Naruto girls reached him.

Sasuke smirked as he held up the two bells he stole easily from a confused Kakashi's grasp. Sakura was furious as she started to beat the blonde up. _Why did I even worry about you! **You pervert, die!**_ The Kage Bunshins all puffed out of existence from the pink-haired girl's wrath on the real Naruto's body. A broken-bodied Naruto looked up to his sensei from the ground, as he tried to grin. The blonde gave a peace sign as he coughed out a little blood. "I call it Harem no Jutsu, Kakashi-sensei. It's an undefeated combo!"

Kakashi genuinely smiled as he saw Sakura continue to berate Naruto for his pervert technique. He even saw Sasuke try to look away and hide a blush, as the raven-haired boy must have been recalling in his mind the jutsu that Naruto just used. _Hahaha, what an interesting team I got this year._

Finding no reason to continue onwards, Kakashi cleared his voice with a loud cough, and gave the group a thumbs up, "You all pass!"

**End Chapter 3**

* * *

Author Notes: Wow, that was the hardest chapter to write so far. I just had a wave of inspiration this morning and I hope it came out pretty well. Things are starting to pick up steam in real life so it's going to be harder and harder to update, I hope I can still update at least once a week, so please bear with me. I wanted to give credit to my real life friend Jin, as he noted in chapter 2 in shock that there wasn't enough hitting on Naruto done by Sakura. I scratched my head, and said you're right! What kind of writer am I if I'm writing a serious story and there's no Sakura hitting Naruto; that would be really strange. Hopefully I'm inserting those moments at the proper time and not making the story off balance. Thanks again for the awesome reviews, I can't believe I jumped from 1k – 2k hits in one chapter. I'm really excited to write about the wave arc, look forward to it! 

_Jutsus: _

_ Thousand Years of Pain - Also known as Sennen Goroshi - Thousand Years of Death - E-Rank _

_ Kawarimi no Jutsu - Body Replacement Technique - E-Rank _

_ Henge no Jutsu - Transformation Technique - E-Rank _

_ Bunshin no Jutsu - Clone Technique - E-Rank _

_ Hāremu no Jutsu - Harem Technique - A-Rank (Naruto only) _

_ Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique - B-Rank _

_ Shihōhappō Shuriken - Shuriken From All Directions - A-Rank _

_ Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique - C-Rank _

_ Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu - Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique - D-Rank _

_ Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu - Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique - D-Rank _

_I think that's all of them. If I'm leaving any jutsus out that you don't know, please ask and I'll answer as soon as I can._

Started: 1-29-07  
Finished: 2-1-07

Next: Chapter 4: The Drunken Client


	5. Chapter 4: The Drunken Client

"_How **DARE **you _show up like this after all this time," the energetic blond pointed his finger at me.

Author simply shrugs. "I guess I'm sorry?"

Naruto scrunched up his face into his famous fox expression. "I'll forgive ya if you make me into Hokage," the blond winked as he gave a huge thumbs up.

Author blinked. Then began hesitatingly, "Naru-chan…I don't know if that will EVER happen in this fic…"

The blond pouted and jumped up and down in protest. He shouted, "How can you!! I have to be Hokage! I WILL become hokage damn-"

The short boy's screams were muffled by the author's silent treatment and wave of his magic pen. _Hehe, I can muffle your voice._

Naruto looked in annoyance at said author.

Author coughs and scratches his head. "Umm so here we go, and please forgive me if I take another year to update."

Though Naruto cannot be heard, his red face and shouting lips and obscene gestures, indicate his intense anger. He concludes by sticking up both of his middle fingers.

Off in the distance the few leftover fans gather their pitchforks and start a fire. They chant, _"You mean jerk, you mean jerk, you mean jerk."_

Author has big sweat drop. "Without further ado…"

* * *

Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: jho

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-San. I just read chapter 370 last week, it's heating up! Flames of youth, yosh!!**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Drunken Client**

_Italics indicates a person's thoughts, flashback, or action/s  
**Bold Italics refers to Kyuubi/Inner Sakura talking**_

* * *

_Kakashi glanced around carefully. Seeing that he had his team's attention, with all seriousness he said, "We will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule."_

* * *

With the quickness, the small figure jumped and darted as quickly as it could. Taking a glance behind – _Oh no!_ Running as fast as possible, it still got caught from behind. 

Sasuke smirked as he held the cat up. "Too slow dead last," he remarked as the cat was struggling to get free.

Naruto grinned as the cat started to scratch up Sasuke's face. '_Better you than me!' The blond thought as he cheered inside._ Sakura frowned at Naruto's happy reaction to Sasuke's troubles as she gave him a light bop on the head. The blond pouted in return, but he was definitely relieved not to relive that unpleasant experience.

* * *

Team 7 returned to the Hokage's office to report their success. The wife of the Fire country's daimyo was pleased to see her cat returned safely and proceeded to squeeze the cat's body for all it was worth with a giant hug. _Meoowwwww (this hurts!!)_

Sasuke hn'ed and made a delightfully evil smirk in his mind as he enjoyed the cat's misery. _You wretched feline, you deserve it!_

The Sandaime coughed to get the shinobis' attention. "Now then," he began. "The next duty of Kakashi's Team 7 will be…Babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging…

Sakura glanced at Naruto, getting a slight nod from him understanding the plan.

"NO!" The blond shouted and gave a serious frown to make his displeasure known. "We can handle tougher missions than this, believe us!"

Kakashi sweat dropped at his shortest genin's rudeness. _Please forgive me Hokage-sama._ Even though his face was stoic and indifferent, Sasuke couldn't help but agree with the dead last's comments. _Anything but these boring errands. How the hell am I going to get stronger with this crap?_

Iruka was not as patient. He immediately got up from his chair beside the Hokage and lectured Naruto harshly. "You idiot, you are just a rookie! _Everyone_ starts off with the simple duties and works their way up!" To Iruka's surprise Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments. He was unprepared for the blonde's softly spoken and serious response.

"We may look like kids, but we are shinobi. We can handle the tougher missions," Naruto concluded with a confident stare.

_Ohh_, the Hokage thought as he looked carefully into the blond's eyes. _When did he mature like this?_ Giving it a moment's thought, the Hokage announced loudly, "Okay. If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual."

Underneath his ninja mask, Kakashi's mouth was opened wide in surprise that the Hokage was changing his mind.

The Sandaime motioned for the man to come in. As the client came in drunkenly, he looked over each of the ninjas. Tazuna was surprised to see how young his protectors would be. He couldn't help but comment, "They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the short one there with the super stupid looking face."

Naruto grimaced and was pained to hear a friend call him that. He took a glance at Sakura and was encouraged at her smile, the blond knew he should just grin and bear it for now.

Together Sakura and Naruto thought, _this is when things really begin. This is our chance to bring new change._

* * *

"_One more miso ramen please," Naruto asked with as much coherence as he could as he was inhaling his 4__th__ serving. Sakura could only shake her head at her teammate, even after all this time the blond's love of ramen was as strong as ever._

"_Naruto," the kunoichi began as she looked at Teuchi cooking another batch of ramen. "You know tomorrow is going to be our first meeting with Tazuna, and our first real action."_

_The blond stopped gulping down his food and fixed his eyes on his teammate. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, everything is going to be fine. This time we're stronger and I'll never let anything happen to you," Naruto promised assuredly while giving his trademark smile._

_The pink haired girl smiled inwardly, knowing that he meant that with all his heart. But the kunoichi did raise an eyebrow at Inner Sakura's blush. Mentally storing that reaction for a talk with her inner self later, Sakura continued, "Don't do anything crazy baka. Listen carefully, this is the plan…"_

**End Chapter 4**

* * *

Author Notes: I know that was one crazy long wait, but please forgive me. I got busy and once a few weeks turned into months I didn't have any desire to get back into the story. But I promised that I would do my best to finish this story and I still desire to finish and work on it. It's just that I don't know when updates will come, so I'm sorry if I can't answer when the next chapter will be out. I'll at least put an hour into this story a week (I'll really try!) and hopefully you won't have to wait as long next time for the next chapter. I do have a vision and a direction in which I want the story to go, so it won't be confused babble. I'm really amazed at how much the Naruto fanfiction community has grown and it's from many of these old and new writers that have encouraged me to continue. Thank you.

Started: 2-7-07 ---LOL  
Finished: 9-19-07

Next: Chapter 5: The Missing-Nin & His Tool


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